It’s never too early to start planning for Sun ‘n Fun’s annual fly-in. This 38th edition of a great general aviation event presents the folks at Sun ‘n Fun, the aviation community, and each individual aviation enthusiast with the opportunity to really make something of the new year. And we here in Polk County, Florida, […]
Politics for Pilots
This network is open for business
A simple message can have far-reaching impact — just ask the readers of GeneralAviationNews.com, who have found a way of networking online. Now, there was a time not so long ago when the means to communicate a message was far less user friendly than it is today. Originally, the only way to let others know […]
Let’s make 2012 a year to remember
This Sunday night marks a watershed moment here on Earth. On this side of midnight is 2011, the year we’ve been working with for the past 12 months. All that ends when the little hand and the big hand arrive at the straight up position on the big wall clock Sunday night because, arriving simultaneously […]
First responders and pilots
Pilots are bold, confident people for the most part. We train to maintain our cool under pressure, be technologically adept at dealing with the machine entrusted to us, and maintain a state of safety consciousness above all else. Yeah, we’re cool. Barney Fife was not a pilot. The character portrayed so expertly by Don Knotts […]
From student to mentor
This may not seem to be a column about politics, but it is. Because ultimately politics is the art of people interacting with other people in order to get something done. Based on that, flight instruction falls well within the realm of politics. And just like politics in the governmental sense, the politics of flight […]
Mistakes will be made
Human beings have a propensity for making decisions that lead to less than desirable outcomes. Said another way, we’re pretty dumb sometimes. That’s not exactly shocking news, I know. But then something comes down the news wires about one of us doing something stupid, or more often, allegedly doing something stupid, and we get ourselves […]
The importance of bonding
Earlier today I went to meet three local men for lunch. They’d asked me to put on my city commissioner hat and come listen to their idea for improving the quality of life in our little burg. Being an agreeable sort I took up the challenge, drove to the outskirts of town and pulled into […]
A year worthy of thanks
This week marks the beginning of the traditional national tendency to reflect on the year gone by. It all starts at Thanksgiving, when we identify specific moments, events, objects, and relationships we appreciate most. Then we transition into Christmastime when we tend to recognize how good we’ve got it, no matter how many material things […]
Desperadoes on the loose
It’s been more than a year since one of the most attention getting moments in the history of aviation and law enforcement took place. John and Martha King famously ended up in handcuffs and were stuffed into the back of police cars for the devious criminal exploit of landing a privately owned airplane at a […]